Air strikes ‘had limited impact’

ASSAD HAS A LOT MORE IN HIS ARSENAL Chemical weapons ‘stored in schools and civilian apartment buildings’.

US assessments following the US, British and French missile strikes on Syria show they had only a limited impact on President Bashar al-Assad’s ability to carry out chemical weapons attacks, said four US officials.

The conclusion contrasts with the Trump administration’s assertion that the strikes on Saturday hit at the heart of Assad’s chemical weapons programme, language suggesting that Assad’s ability to stage more attacks had been dealt a devastating blow.

The US, France and Britain destroyed three targets tied to Syria’s weapons programme. The most important of them was the Barzah Research and Development Centre, which US intelligence concluded was involved in the production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology.

But US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said intelligence indicated that Assad’s stock of chemicals and precursors was believed to be scattered far beyond the three targets.

Some of it, US and allied intelligence suggests, is stored in schools and civilian apartment buildings, which one of the officials referred to as “human shields”.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, in remarks to Congress a day before the strikes, acknowledged one of his top priorities in crafting the operation would be to minimise the loss of life to civilians.

Asked about the assertion that the strikes had only a limited impact, a White House national security council spokesperson said the purpose of the military operation was to hold Syria’s government accountable, degrade its capability and deter it from chemical attacks in the future – “all while minimising civilian casualties”. –